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Friday, April 15, 2005

I once wrote an article on athletes who get into trouble with the law, fans fighting in the stadiums, riots at arenas and all that fun stuff that comes with attending major league sporting events. It amazes me how often these events take place. In the last week alone we have several incidents involving sports stars and fans during games. I’m sure that by the time I finish this article, there will be a few more new worthy incidents as well. Let me just say that the thought of taking the kids to the ball park for a nice afternoon game is losing it’s appeal. It’s safer to stay in the hood these days.

One sport always ups the ante when it comes to barbaric behavior by it’s fans. My favorite sport, soccer, continues to support my statements about it. This is a sport that does not like black people. Any black people, Haitian, African, European, American, Latin, Heavy Tanned Dutch…no Negras at all! Hockey shows brothers more love, (when they are playing) and that’s not saying much cuz some hockey fans can be racist as hezzell! Yet soccer remains the cruelest sport to people of African descent.

Within the last 10 days, there have been multiple incidents of violence as the Champions League rolls on, letting the bodies hit the floor as they leave. This makes any Artest/Sheffield thing look like temper tantrum. These fools were waving Nazi flags, throwing lit flares at the goal keeper and throwing anything they could get their hands on.

The few brothers who are unlucky enough to be on the field playing during one of these fun filled soccer fest are in the middle of the cross-hairs like the guy in the Public Enemy’s logo for real.Since I am not an expert, I call on them to present the evidence to you the people. After reviewing the information, I’m sure you will come to the same conclusion that I have. (Soccer sucks!)

• In 1999, S.S. Lazio played city rivals AS Roma, a team widely supported by Rome's significant Jewish population. Lazio's ultras took anti-Semitism to sickening heights when they unfurled a 50-metre banner around their section of Rome's Olympic Stadium that read: 'Auschwitz is your town, the ovens are your houses.' • In May 2001, Inter Milan ultras stole a motor scooter, set it on fire and hurled it onto the field from the second level of Milan's Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.

• Last September, AS Roma's home game against Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League was halted when referee Anders Frisk was bloodied after being hit by a metal object thrown from the stands.

• This past weekend, 17 fans were arrested and 259 later identified and charged with throwing objects onto the field, committing acts of violence in the stands, chanting fascist slogans and waving neo-Nazi banners following games in Rome, Palermo, Udine, Cava dei Tirreni and Perugia.

• Prior to this past Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final contest between Juventus and Liverpool, police in Turin clashed with Juventus supporters hell-bent on getting even with the English fans. In 1985, 39 Juventus fans died in a riot started by Liverpool supporters prior to the European Cup final in Brussels. Taken from “The Dark Heart of Italian Soccer” by John F. Molinaro

Li Fuchang, lineman for a Chinese Super Leaguae match betwen Beijing Hyundai and Tianjin TEDA, walks out of the field after being hit by a bottle thrown down from the stand. The match resumed after a 10-minute pause. Tianjin won the match 3-0. [newsphoto]